| The first excerpt represents the element of Air. It speaks of mental influences and the process of thought, and is drawn from Eryxias by Platonic Imitator: When, I say, we are thus in earnest, and you, who agree in other respects,
fall to disputing about a matter of such moment, that is, about wealth, and
not merely whether it is black or white, light or heavy, but whether it is
a good or an evil, whereby, although you are now the dearest of friends and
kinsmen, the most bitter hatred may arise betwixt you, I must hinder your
dissension to the best of my power. If I could, I would tell you the
truth, and so put an end to the dispute; but as I cannot do this, and each
of you supposes that you can bring the other to an agreement, I am
prepared, as far as my capacity admits, to help you in solving the
question. Please, therefore, Critias, try to make us accept the doctrines
which you yourself entertain.
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The second excerpt represents the element of Fire. It speaks of emotional influences and base passions, and is drawn from Memories and Portraits by Robert Louis Stevenson: man's life, in the clear shining after rain. We grow ashamed of
our distresses, new and hot and coarse, like villainous roadside
brandy; we see life in aerial perspective, under the heavens of
faith; and out of the worst, in the mere presence of contented
elders, look forward and take patience. Fear shrinks before them
"like a thing reproved," not the flitting and ineffectual fear of
death, but the instant, dwelling terror of the responsibilities and
revenges of life. Their speech, indeed, is timid; they report
lions in the path; they counsel a meticulous footing; but their
serene, marred faces are more eloquent and tell another story.
Where they have gone, we will go also, not very greatly fearing;
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| The third excerpt represents the element of Water. It speaks of pure spiritual influences and feelings of love, and is drawn from O Pioneers! by Willa Cather: of injury and outrage grew. He went into his
bedroom and took his murderous 405 Winches-
ter from the closet.
When Frank took up his gun and walked out
of the house, he had not the faintest purpose of
doing anything with it. He did not believe that
he had any real grievance. But it gratified him
to feel like a desperate man. He had got into
the habit of seeing himself always in desperate
straits. His unhappy temperament was like a
O Pioneers! |
The fourth excerpt represents the element of Earth. It speaks of physical influences and the impact of the unseen on the visible world, and is drawn from The Silverado Squatters by Robert Louis Stevenson: Thither we went; the Jews, who should already have been miles
into Lake County, still cheerily accompanying us. For about
a furlong we followed a good road alone, the hillside through
the forest, until suddenly that road widened out and came
abruptly to an end. A canyon, woody below, red, rocky, and
naked overhead, was here walled across by a dump of rolling
stones, dangerously steep, and from twenty to thirty feet in
height. A rusty iron chute on wooden legs came flying, like
a monstrous gargoyle, across the parapet. It was down this
that they poured the precious ore; and below here the carts
stood to wait their lading, and carry it mill-ward down the
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